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April 24, 2011
Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.

You may have heard that there was a big wedding going on in England this month.  And we were invited.

No, not THAT wedding — the other wedding.  Debbie and Peter decided to get hitched.  While we were over there we took a little road trip and visited a few places.

Wedding's Eve
A group of us went to the Pant-yr-Ochain for a meal the evening before the Big Day.

   They had a very good house red wine. 

Cousins reunited, me and Ken.

Briefly partners in crime when we were quite young and I went to stay with his family in Kent for a short time. I think that was the last time we saw each other until now.

It must have been the better part of fifty years ago! 

Wedding's Day
Where would be a good place to get married?  Hmmm, let me think...  I know, how about a zoo?

And so it was that we all gathered at Chester Zoo for the big event.  We attended the ceremony, partook of food and drinks, snapped photos and spent a couple of hours wandering around the zoo.

This witnessing stuff is serious business.

Wandering around the zoo, trying to look inconspicuous in our wedding guest attire.

Even this guy came out to see what was going on.

An impromptu breakaway photo session broke out.

And was reciprocated.   

London
We arrived at and departed from Heathrow airport and stayed a few days in London.  Many years had passed since my last visit and there seemed to be so many more people than there were the last time.  Must have been a zillion of them at the very least.

Hyde Park
   .    

Tower of London
           

  'Enery duh Eighf's suit of armour. 

Tower Bridge with tour bus in the middle.

We took in a couple of plays — a comedy version of The 39 Steps and Million Dollar Quartet, a rock and roll tribute based on a meeting in 1954 between Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.  Both were good.   

Buckingham Palace
     

View from St. James Park, across the road from Buckingham Palace.

Some Other London Places
               

This smoking contraption seems to be very popular.  It is also highly unsanitary and an effective means of passing along all sorts of contagious lurgies, including herpes.      

Stonehenge
From London to Salisbury Plain to see Stonehenge.

Devon
From Stonehenge to Dartmoor in Devon for a couple of days.

   We took a horseback ride across the moor where the wild ponies roam.  

Cornwall
From Dartmoor to Cornwall where we spent three days.

Doc Martin & Port Isaac
We found a British TV show on Netflix called Doc Martin, enjoyed it and watched all four seasons of it over several weeks.  We thought it would be fun to visit the place where it was recorded — Port Wenn on the show, Port Isaac in real life.  We stayed in a B & B two miles outside of Port Isaac, which was very convenient.

As luck would have it, they had just started filming the fifth season and were busy out on the streets.  In between takes the actors would talk to the people and pose with them for photos.  They were all very approachable and the doc was nothing like his screen character.  Naturally, Carol wanted to get in on the action and we took these photos of her with Martin Clunes (the doc) and Caroline Katz (the doc's sometimes girlfriend).

This is one of the scenes they were filming.  A man was on a ladder, had some kind of sarcastic exchange with the doc, who was not amused, and then fell off the ladder.  Lucky that the doc was there to rush to his aid.

When this is shown, I suspect that it will look like the streets were empty.  In fact there were many people milling around and cars and delivery vehicles getting in the way.  It was interesting watching the crew engaging in crowd control over people that they really had no authority.  You can see some of the folks in the photos hiding around corners.

                  This was a different place nearby.

Lands End
              

North Wales
Deb & Pete took us on a quick trip around some of North Wales.

Caernarvon Castle
     

I was surprised to see this.

Conwy Castle
   This is the official bird scarer offer.

Menai Suspension Bridge
We crossed over Thomas Telford's famous suspension bridge in Anglesey.  I was relieved when we reached the other side because ... wait for it ... the suspense was killing me. :)

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Ah, those wily welsh wags crack me up with their names that they know those English types cannot pronounce.

Grove Park School
Carol wanted me to show her the "bad school" that I have talked about.  And she insisted on a photo.  So here I am once again standing in front of this godforsaken place.

Cotwolds
From Wrexham to London via the Cotswolds.

Could have been Grove Park School but this was only the Cotswolds.

Gotta luv Asparagus Festival Day.

November 18, 2010
It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile.
But it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face.

Another half year has passed by in the blink of an eye!  Things are just so busy here.  The business has grown steadily over the past year and a half but not yet enough for me to quit my day job, which also involves me spending two days a week 125 miles away from home in Connecticut.  It is a long commute.

It didn't help matters when my computer crashed.  I was able to recover most of my stuff eventually but I lost a few emails from two Grove Park survivors who gave me some stories and photos that I was going to use on my Skool page.  If you were one of those aforementioned survivors, please send me the info again.

Still, amidst all the bedlam there was some good stuff going on and I managed to take a few snapshots along the way.

Vermont Break

In July we spent a few days in Vermont again.  Vermont is a good getaway.  At about 2.5 hours away, it is close enough to drive without too much discomfort yet far enough away to feel like a vacation.

We stayed at Ye Olde England Inne, which is run by ye olde English couple.  The outside did not look too English to me but the inside was very quaint, complete with afternoon tea and pictures of the Queen.

Church Street in Burlington is a hive of activity and had a cow theme going on.

Hey, this is the land of Ben & Jerry's after all.

There were many of these, all decorated differently.

We did not get in any hiking or kayaking this time but we did rent a couple of bikes.  They had a bike trail so we were able to stay out of the way of the maniac car drivers.  This was my first time on a bike in I don't know how long.

Naturally, it rained and we got wet.  But it was still fun.

We passed an art exhibition along the way and went in for a look around.

This neat looking horse sculpture was outside.

Talking of horses, we visited one of Carol's horse community friends who has a farm and these little guys were wandering around outside:

Julie's First Birthday

In September, Julie hit the big 1 and had an even bigger party to celebrate.

She had her own personal cake, which she proceeded to devour in her own inimitable style.  You see, Julie does not believe in using a spoon or a fork or even her bare hands.

No, she favors the "Look ma, no hands!" approach!

She likes to dive in face first.  I see a future cake eating champion in the making.

The inevitable cake aftermath.

Julie and Dylan playing under a table.  Tables are great fun!

Jackson had a good time too and can't wait to play under the tables with the guys.

Thanks for the party, see ya next time!

Sarah's Wedding

The big event of the year was when Sarah and Karl got married.  She is now Sarah Benedict.  They were married on the binary date of 10/10/10.  That date works in both British and American formats.

There are approximately a zillion pictures of that day on Facebook.  There are a few here that have not appeared there yet but probably will soon.  Remember, you saw them here first.

The wedding took place in a ski lodge.  It sounds unusual but it was a very nice place.  Much better than a church in my view.

Dylan was the ring bearer and did a fine job.

And it was not he who dropped the rings but the best man!

We had a family reunion.  My sister and her family flew over from Wales for the wedding (their arms must have been aching).

In the picture (3 generations), left to right: Vicky, Debbie, Pete, Karl, Jackson, Sarah, Dylan, me, Craig, Carl, Stacy and Julie.

    Do Debbie and Karl know about this?

Mike and Carol's Excellent Adventure

A few days after the wedding we took off to California for a 10 day vacation.

I had never been there before and found it to be an always interesting and mostly enjoyable experience.

We flew in to San Francisco and had originally planned to stay two nights there but were so underwhelmed that we decided to leave the next day.

We didn't like the place very much.  The bay is pretty but I think the city looks better from a distance than up close.   No one spoke English and we didn't see anyone wearing flowers in their hair.  Scott McKenzie - you lied to me.

We headed north first to the Napa Valley, where they make much of the wine found in the stores.  As we drove across the Golden Gate bridge (shown on the left) our car died and we were just able to coast into a vista point on the other side of the bridge.

We were only about 15 minutes from the car rental place but it took them almost three hours to come out to us with a replacement car!  They might have been there sooner but I think they were afraid to come out after Carol unleashed her fury at them over the phone.

These are a few of the Painted Ladies (colorfully painted houses in the Victorian and Edwardian styles) in juxtaposition with the newer city buildings in the background.

This photo was taken from a moving tour bus that was not allowed to stop because the rich people didn't like it (or so the bus driver said).

The sea lions like this place more than we do.

They are here by choice and there is nothing to keep them here (except maybe the sharks in the ocean).

That is Alcatraz in the background on the left

A different view of it on the right.

Extreme traffic calming in an expensive neighborhood.  

We finally got off the Golden Gate bridge and were pleased to find the town of Sausalito, where we were able to get something to eat and drink at last.  It is very pleasant and clean and a stark contrast to San Francisco.

That incident with the car derailed our plans to visit the Muir redwood trees due to lack of time so we headed to the Napa Valley where we stayed the night at a B&B in Calistoga.  Calistoga and the B&B were very quaint.

There  are thousands of acres of grapes in the Napa Valley and dozens, if not hundreds of wineries.  We saw some of the famous names and went for wine tastings at a couple of the smaller ones.  We managed to bring back a few bottles unscathed in our luggage.

So then we headed south again, back over the Golden Gate bridge and stayed overnight in Monterey.

We were not overly impressed by Monterey either but we did visit the famous aquarium there and I took these photos of the jellyfish, which were probably the most interesting things in Monterey.

The next day we began our journey south down the Pacific Coast Highway, known to the locals as PCH.

By the time we were finished, we had traveled about 350 miles along PCH.  That is a long drive but well worth it.  The scenery is spectacular.

We stopped off in the very pretty town of Solvang for the night.

Solvang has a few windmills and was featured in the movie Sideways.

When I think of windmills, I think of Holland and tulips from hamster jam but this town was founded by Danish, not Dutch, settlers.

The next day we made it to our final destination of Santa Barbara where we stayed for several days.

Santa Barbara is sometimes referred to as the American Riviera and it is very nice there.  The weather was warm without any of the excessive humidity that we sometimes get in the northeast.  One of the days was unseasonably warm and reached 98°F.  I managed to get a little sunburned.

The pace of life here is very laidback and the people are friendly.

The hotel also hosted a social time every evening for guests to meet each other and provided free wine.  I don't know what kind of wine it was but it was very good.

With winter just around the corner in New England, the idea of moving to Santa Barbara is very appealing.  Problem is that property is extremely expensive.

A few sea lions found their way here too.  Only room for a few of them though on this buoy.

They pronounce that boo-ee over here, which even now sounds a little strange to me.  I imagine that would be the sound that gay ghosts would make as they try to scare you - "Ooh, booey!"

In the northeast pigeons congregate on rooftops, in the southwest it is pelicans.

The first, last and only surviving one.  Would anyone dare name it this today?

This is an historic church known as the Mission.

We took a trip to Venice Beach, which I am glad I visited but have no desire to go back anytime soon.

We went into downtown Santa Barbara on Halloween and saw some pretty freaky sights but even that paled in comparison to this place.

Drugs rule here.  Medicinal marijuana is legal but you need a prescription.  Don't have a prescription?  No problem - the doctor is always in! 

We also drove around Bel Air - home of the rich and famous just outside of Los Angeles.  I was surprised at how easy it was to go there.  I expected a gated community.

We could not see much though because all the houses have high walls and fences.  The streets are narrow and no parking signs are literally everywhere.  The paparazzi were nowhere to be seen - the closest thing to them was us.  We thought we passed Charlie Sheen going the other way in a Mercedes SUV.

We eventually climbed to the top of one of the hills to the best view we could find and loitered long enough to take these shots without getting arrested or harassed.

Every day while we were there the phone rang with business related issues and because there is a three hour time difference between California and New England, the phone would sometimes ring at 6:00 am.  We also had to do invoicing one day and did it on the hotel patio while drinking their wine.  That was followed by a mad dash to Staples to print them out before they closed.  Despite that we had a great time and want to go back again.

We returned from Los Angeles airport.  The transportation to and from Boston's Logan airport was once again provided by an excellent company called .

May 5, 2010
It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.

Wow, it has been about 5 months since I updated this website! I have been very busy lately and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything I would like to do.

So anyway, it was my birthday last week (they seem to be coming around more quickly these days). Carol told me she was taking me somewhere but would not tell me where.

So, under strict instructions to get there by a certain time, I arrived at her house after traveling from Connecticut and she gave me my present — tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil's Love. This was great because it combined two of my favorite things — the Beatles music and the Cirque du Soleil.

However, Love is only showing in that alternate reality known as Las Vegas — so that was when I found out where we were headed!

Half an hour later we were on our way to the airport, our transportation provided by an excellent company called . We got there on time but almost missed the flight because we spent too long in the restaurant only to find out that the flight had been moved to another gate and we had to leg it. We just made it.

The show was excellent but they do not allow photos to be taken. Words alone cannot describe the show, it has to be experienced in person. It was like some kind of '60's psychedelic trip. The Beatles provided a big part of the soundtrack to my adolescence and it helps to be a fan of their music but it is not a requirement. We both loved it.

There are lots of good shows in Vegas. We also saw Menopause the Musical, which was very funny.

We stayed in the Excalibur hotel where the Tournament of Kings show was playing so we went to that as well. It was a medieval style banquet with a live show consisting of kings on horses, jousting, pyrotechnics and Merlin the Wizard providing commentary.

Again they would not allow photos but after the show a couple of the actors came out on their horses to meet the audience and I was able to grab this shot of the villain's horse, which took a liking to Carol's drink.

The horse's name is Diablo and used to belong to Wayne Newton who has a horse farm nearby. Diablo is nearing retirement and will go back to the farm.

Neither of us are gamblers but we did bet on the Kentucky Derby. Didn't win of course.

While walking down the strip we saw Gloria Estefan giving an interview on the street.

We met some other celebrities too. Carol got friendly with Brad Pitt and I met someone called Jenna. Those last two were at Madame Tussauds.

Our Continental flight coming home was interesting — the pilot did not show up! After a wait, they told us he was at the airport and would be on the plane soon. Then they told us they could not contact him.

Then they told us to "deplane" (is that a real word). When about half the passengers had got off the plane, they told us they had "found someone else" and to stay on the plane. Those who had already got off had to be rounded up. What a debacle.

They also charged us $25 for each bag that was checked in. We took Jet Blue going out and they did not do that. Jet Blue good, Continental bad.

We saw another show in Boston a few weeks ago that also defies description — the Blue Man Group. It was very creative and a lot of fun. No photos there either.

I definitely recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

 

Julie was christened in January and the church at least allowed us to take some photos:

Some more photos from Las Vegas:

mike stanley, michael stanley, wrexham, grove park, consultant, c#, .net, sql server